This film deserved much better than it got, I think this was one of the most true X-Men related films of them all. To the Boneheads who are spouting "Who Wrote This?" - Well, blame Chris Claremont and Frank Miller.
I've got a copy of that first Wolverine Mini-Series, original printing.
If you take this story and strip out the Mechanized Silver Samurai and Viper, it's that exact story. The main characters are all there: Yukio, Mariko, Viper, Shingen, The Silver Samurai, and The Black Hand (Later referred to as "The Hand" in the books).
There are also elements from early 90's Wolverine arcs, as Wolverine, when he had been stripped of Adamantium by Magneto in X-Men (Vol II) #25 and Wolverine #75, he wandered the world carrying the Sword of The Yashida Clan, which is shown in this film - A Sword made out of Metal from a Meteor, which Wolverine used to incapacitate the evil "Bloodsport/Bloodscream" later on in the series and later entrusted back to the Human Silver Samurai.
There is even a nod to "Cyber" - An evil Mutant who was completely encased in Adamantium, who was the only enemy Wolverine really feared- Who was killed in Wolverine #100, his Adamantium leeched by Tyler Summers (Cyclop's Grandson from his son Cable) which he intended to put back into Logan but Logan refused to go through the bonding process and this reverted his genes and gave him an animal-like appearance.
I don't remember the time-line much, it has after all been 30 years. Around that same time Professor X's son, Legion, went back in time to kill Magneto but kills Professor X instead, causing the "M'kraan Crystal" of the Shi'ar to crack, bending reality, thus causing the "Age of Apocalypse", an Alternate Timeline where it was all changed: And the Goal of that X-Men, led by Magneto, was to repair the M'kraan Crystal. This arc was done over 6 months worth of Alternate X-Men titles.
Eventually all these arcs lead up to "Days of Future Past": And indeed, there is a huge reference to this at the end of the film.
If anyone had followed the 1988 (Volume II) Wolverine, set in "Madripoor", they would remember two fellows, Roughhouse and Bloodsport who hounded Wolverine incognito as "Master Patch" - And so I initially thought that this rendition of "Viper" (Svetlana Khodchenkova) was a female version of Bloodsport, as Bloodsport was the only enemy that could suck out Wolverine's Healing factor. And, as Bloodsport/Scream's goal was to suck all of the life out of Logan, this is apt as the elder head of the Yashida Clan takes on this goal.
But that was not the case, although Viper's Ability to weaken Logan's Mutant Healing factor was similar to Bloodsport/Scream, she was her own villain with her own agenda.
As far as the film, this was the best X-Men related film since 2000, and as much as I liked "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" I like this one much more: Because none of the other films really got into who Logan really is, the fatalistic, tired of living Wolverine- Who although too tired to live, and not caring about much, because so much had been taken from him, he still fights as hard as he can.
And THAT is why I loved the Comic Book Series, and why I like this installment of the films. Because, in their own way, Marvel is pulling all of the best story arcs and sticking them into these movies.
And everything looks very good here, Hugh Jackman doesn't look much different than in the other films. This "Weakened Wolverine" was an interesting twist, allowed us to get to the dark aspects of the character.
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